Have you eaten?

One of the big differences between Italians and Americans is on the idea of wasting food. When I went to US I was hit by the great amount of food used on 4th July, pounds of spare ribs and coke with almost no bread which, as we know, prevents to eat too much meat.

When I was a child, there were dinners in which my mum used to say "This is a bread-necessary dinner", which meant that without eating bread we would feel hungry soon.

Much more than my parents - who were baby-boomer after all, as they grew up in the 50s and 60s, the years of the Italian Miracle - my nonni were the best example of 100% food usage. When I peel my apple or the cheese, I always remember my grandmother telling me to peel it thinner: "Otherwise, half of the food will remain on the skin, and will be thrown away". Even now, we use to kiss a piece of bread before throw it away.

Since my family was composed by fishermen, my nonne were great fish cookers, especially with poor fish: nonna Nannina is still making great sauces with testoline or little monkfish tails, or even with so small and thin fishes that I hardly know their names in Italian!

Even in the 50s, a lot of Italians were starving, and most of them didn't have two meals a day. This is one of the reasons why in Italy restaurants with big portions are greatly appreciated by popular classes, even if they economically improved. The quantity of food is often perceived in direct relation with quality: the more, the better. Moreover, the high-class restaurants, which in my opinion are now even overpriced, are most of the times object of fun by popular classes (popular for the origin, no matter the money).

That's why - I will always remember it - the typical question when I call my grandparents, especially in lunch or dinner time, is: how are you? have you eaten?
Not yet, I'm preparing - Not yet, I'm not very hungry, I was concerned about something.
Yes, but... eat first!

Eat first: this is the first problem to solve for those who experienced the hunger.

Walking in Le Marche

Thinking about Le Marche, watching some tour programmes here, one may think that Le Marche are nice to see by car.

This is not completely true: yes, by car you can jump from a town to another, from a castle to a fortress to a walled town, from a vineyard to an olive oil producer, from a craftman to a country house, from an agriturismo to a trattoria, from the sea to the hills, to the mountains.

However, there are many other ways to explore Le Marche. One is actually the contrary of the car. If you walk, you may enjoy Le Marche by entering yourself in its real pace of life: step by step, day by day, with no hurry but following your skills, you will reach the aim.

In a way, it seems to be the opposite of Australia or America: here there are no big distances, no reasons to run and run, no fronteers, you don't feel in competition with the nature, rather there is more balancing. This doesn't mean to be a judgement, it's simply the fact that in places where nature is immense and big, and distances are very very large, people have a different view of life. If you think about the wonderful Australia, you wouldn't live like in Le Marche, otherwise you will be submerged by the nature.

In the beautiful Canada, you can go hiking for a day, for a week or a month, but you won't go very far, and there are still places you shouldn't go alone. In Australia, the desert won't forgive you if you challenge him. In Le Marche, there's nothing like that. Except from the top of the mountains in the winter, nature is much easier to cope with. But since we haven't got big plains, the land is limited, the work must be hard but also very very careful and you have to be patient. There is few quantity, quality is all to think about.


Therefore, if you come to Le Marche, consider to come here and hike, or even bike. Lots of wonderful sceneries are waiting for you, between a trattoria and an agriturismo...